"why even allow someone to start a profile if they are going to be rejected like this?"

Because it's the content of the profile the person creates that determines whether they get accepted or not. If lots of buyers are looking for particle physicists, there aren't many particle physicists here, and you have three related doctorates and 40 years experience... then you're in the door. If you're a writer with three months experience of writing erotic fiction then it's less likely.

I'm sorry, but I'm flabbergasted that people bought laptops, programs and conducted training for a site that they hadn't even been approved to work on yet.

Check Scott's profile: His hourly rate is exactly what yours is. (Asking rate, at least. Your job history shows that you often work for far less than your asking rate.) But Scott has earned roughly five times what you have earned on this platform, so it's probably fair to say that he knows his way around success on Upwork.

As to your friends: Your expectation that they will earn [significant] money for themselves and Upwork is clearly predicated upon the assumption that they will readily find work at their own "HIGHER rate[s]" (as you put it). That is (and will and would be) just great, until and unless it turns out that they do NOT readily find work in their niches, because those fields are oversaturated, and/or because clients prefer to work with lower-cost freelancers, even if the lower-cost freelancers also turn out to be lower-skilled. (Alas for the clients... This is, however, a market in which clients are free to choose unwisely.) An analogy (there are many) is the assumption that a grocery store would be well-advised to stock its cookie shelves full-to-bursting with packages of luxury (high-priced) cookies, on the theory that these expensive cookies will surely make the store lots and lots of money. That would be true, of course, ONLY if a market (buyers) existed to support the purchase of all of the high-priced cookies.

I worked on other freelance sites before Upwork, was Upwork, so I know how it works -- I'm not looking for snarky responses here.

And the reason my rates fluctuates is because I offer a LOT of different services that don't involve the same rates -- I'm not going to charge $50/hour to copyedit or do DTP. I charge $50/hour for more technical work (like Proposal Management and Writing) -- so that argument is totally invalid.

Your analogy of the grocery store is ridiculous, because the rates that can be offered can change each time you submit a proposal, for a # of reasons -- it's highly unlikely in the grocery store scenario that the grocer is going to sell their product (which is the opposite of what the "BUYER OF UPWORK SERVICES IS DOING") based on different variables of said purchaser.

I worked on other freelance sites before Upwork, was Upwork, so I know how it works -- I'm not looking for snarky responses here.

As to my own responses, I did not offer "snark." I offered plain-spoken commentary. You may not have liked my observations, but they do not qualify as "snarky." (I don't claim that I am above "snark." Just not guilty this time.)

And the reason my rates fluctuates is because I offer a LOT of different services that don't involve the same rates -- I'm not going to charge $50/hour to copyedit or do DTP. I charge $50/hour for more technical work (like Proposal Management and Writing) -- so that argument is totally invalid.

(1) I also provide copyediting services. I charge $42/hour for that. I cannot imagine why you would charge much less. Are you a really terrible copyeditor? (There: THAT is "snark.")

(2) Before you label an "argument" as "invalid," it would be useful if you could actually identify what specific "argument" it is that you believe that you are so effectively refuting. I simply pointed out that you often charge less than your asking rate. What "argument" was I making that you so masterfully undermined with this riposte?

Your analogy of the grocery store is ridiculous, because the rates that can be offered can change each time you submit a proposal, for a # of reasons -- it's highly unlikely in the grocery store scenario that the grocer is going to sell their product (which is the opposite of what the "BUYER OF UPWORK SERVICES IS DOING") based on different variables of said purchaser.

No i'm not a terrible copyeditor -- I copyedit every single day of my life on highly technical documents -- I just don't charge $42/hour for it because it's not as involved as the other work I provide -- so again, why are you trying to insult me when all I did was ask a question about Upwork's policy.

I've had friends invest money buying laptops and programs and training to prepare for this -- why even allow someone to start a profile if they are going to be rejected like this?

The idea of someone training to prepare for Upwork freelancing is flabbergasting, not to mention buying laptops for the sake of joining Upwork. Aside from freelancers willing to do entry-level work at developing country rates, the only freelancers with a reasonable expectation of success at Upwork are those who can demonstrate proficiency in their field, through credentials, work experience, education, portfolio, and so forth, and evidently the people you perhaps encouraged to apply here don't fit the bill, and Upwork is probably doing them a favor by rejecting their profiles so they don't waste more time applying for work they're unlikely to get.

Excuse me, but an example of the "people" I am trying to bring to Upwork is:

Someone with 27 years experience and a Bachelors of Science in Pyschology and someone that is attending Georgetown University (pre-law) on scholarship and is currently interning for the DC Mayor's Office.

So, your assessment of the people I'm trying to bring to Upwork could not be more off-base.

Like I said -- Ive been on elance/odesk/upwork for 17 years, and have worked on projects for some of the largest companies in the world, so I think I know what it takes to be successful on Upwork.

So you think it's stupid for people to prepare to work for Upwork? in the way of testing, training in programs to be able to offer more services to client, to buying equipment to perform said jobs? Really?

So when a new program or product comes out in whatever field of services you offer, you don't buy them, you don't train on them? I find that hard to believe.

Why do you people feel the need to insult me or my friends with your ridiculous comments.